Meaning

• Influence or authority over something.

  "The government has complete control over the situation."

• A separate group or subject in an experiment against which the results are compared where the primary variable is low or non-existent.

• The method and means of governing the performance of any apparatus, machine or system, such as a lever, handle or button.

• Restraint or ability to contain one's movements or emotions, or self-control.

• A security mechanism, policy, or procedure that can counter system attack, reduce risks, and resolve vulnerabilities; a safeguard or countermeasure.

• (project management) A means of monitoring for, and triggering intervention in, activities that are not going according to plan.

• A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register.

• An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box.

• Any of the physical factors determining the climate of a place, such as latitude, distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation.

• A construction in which the understood subject of a given predicate is determined by an expression in context. See control.

Meaning

• To exercise influence over; to suggest or dictate the behavior of.

  "With a simple remote, he could control the toy truck."

• (construed with for) To design (an experiment) so that the effects of one or more variables are reduced or eliminated.